How do I ensure that prints made with the Photoshop/DPP plugin on roll paper consume the least amount of paper and are correctly oriented?


When printing an image whose longest dimension is 17" or less, you will want to ensure that the printer uses the width of the roll for the longest edge of the image, in order to minimize the amount of wasted paper.

To do this, follow these steps.

Firstly, open your image in Photoshop run the iPF Print Plug-in from the File > Export menu.

Select the correct media type on the Main tab (gloss, semi-gloss, coated etc.)

Switch to the Page Setup tab and set the Media Source to Roll.

plugin-page-layout.png
The Page Layout Tab

Assuming you are using a 17" wide roll, set the Media Size to ISO A2+ so that the width of the paper is 17". If you are using a 16" roll or smaller, create a new Custom Media Size whose width is equal to the width of your roll, and the length of the paper is approximately 1.5x the width.

Using the Preview control, ensure that Print Area Layout 1 or Print Area Layout 2 is selected, so that you see a representation of your image placed onto a white background in the preview window.

Check that the Orientation control is set to Portrait. Note that this control relates to the orientation of the paper, not the image to be printed. When paper is fed from a roll, portrait orientation instructs the printer to place the image with its top edge parallel to the end of the roll, whereas landscape orientation has the printer place the image with its left edge parallel to the roll end.

The paper orientation should be switched if the image to be printed is taller than it is wide. As a general rule, to conserve roll paper and have the long edge of the image printed across the width of the paper roll, a landscape format image should be printed on portrait orientation paper, while a portrait format image should be printed on landscape orientation paper.

plugin-A2-portrait-dir.png
plugin-A2-landscape-dir.png
Portrait orientation
Landscape orientation

You should now see your image placed on a vertical sheet, as seen above in the Portrait orientation image.

Click the Roll Paper Options button and tick the No spaces at Top or Bottom (Conserve Paper) box. This will instruct the printer to cut the paper immediately after it has printed the image, rather than spool out an entire A2+ length from the roll.

plugin-roll-paper-options.png

Check the size of your image against the preview image and either go back to Photoshop an resize it so that it fits the paper properly, or click the Enlarged/Reduced Printing box, select Scaling and then drag your image around to place it on the paper in the correc place and scale it to the correct size.

plugin-page-layout-scaling.png
Scaling the image with the plugin

If you choose to have the plugin scale your image, go back to the Main tag, click Set Configuration and change the Image Enlargement Method to Bi-cubic for the best possible results.

Finally, return to the Main tab, ensure that all your color profile and quality settings are correct, then hit the print button...